THE BATTLE OF SABINE PASS - ITS CAUSES AND EFFECTS

By W. T. Block

Greetings and a special welcome to all of you today from the Lions'
Club and from all the people of Sabine Pass, as well as myself, W. T. Block of Nederland.
Before proceeding with the Battle of Sabine Pass, please permit me to refresh your
memories with some of the particulars that preceded the battle, as well as some of the
causes.

Galveston Island had been recaptured by the Confederates on Jan. 1,
1863, and thereafter the Federals hoped for revenge by capturing Sabine Pass, Beaumont,
and Orange. They hoped to capture all the cotton, steamboats and schooners in port, as
well as to burn railroad bridges and ferries on the rivers. Then they planned to attack
Houston along the railroad to the west of Beaumont, and then starve Galveston Island into
submission.

The principal Confederate defense force at Sabine Pass during the early
months of the war had been Spaight's Texas Battalion. Another unit, Capt. F. H. Odlums'
Co. F, of the 1st Texas Heavy Artillery, was sent to Sabine Pass in Dec., 1862. And the
two units manned artillery aboard two old cottonclad gunboats, the Uncle Ben and Josiah
Belle, which Confederates used to break the blockade on Jan. 21, 1863, by chasing two
Union sail ships, the Morning Light and Velocity, for 30 miles at sea and capturing them
during a battle. After that embarrassment to the Federal forces, Union Gen. Benjamin
Butler of New Orleans was determined to capture Sabine Pass by sea, but he had to await
the capture of Vicksburg before enough shallow draft gunboats were available. About Aug.
1, 1863, Gen. Butler began massing four gunboats and 19 troop transports at New Orleans in
preparation for the battle.

Between March and August, 1863, Confederate engineers built the new
Fort Griffin on this site. Co. B, the artillery company of Spaight's Battalion, was still
assigned as gunners on the cottonclad Uncle Ben, whereas Capt. Odlum, Lt. Dick Dowling and
their Davis Guards were transferred to the new Fort Griffin to man the four 32-pound,
6" guns and two 24-pound, 5" guns in the fort. Co. F was made up almost entirely
of Irish immigrant longshoremen, or "dockwallopers," of Houston and Galveston.
Confederate engineers drove marker posts in the oyster reefs 1,200 yards distant from the
fort to mark the guns' maximum range, and during the month of August, Lt. Dowling used a
sunken schooner as a target as he honed his artillerymen's gunnery prowess to the peak of
perfection.

Beginning in May, 1863, Gen. "Prince John" Magruder of
Houston began a systematic reduction of Confederate forces at Sabine Pass, and that at a
time that he knew an attack at Sabine Pass was perhaps imminent. Several companies of
Spaight's Bn. were transferred to Opelousas, La., where Gens. Nathaniel Banks and W. B.
Franklin led an invasion up the Bayou Teche. Then Magruder sent Col. Griffin and his
battalion from Galveston to Sabine Pass. When Comanche Indians began attacking the homes
west of Fort Worth of Griffin's soldiers, the battalion threatened to desert or mutiny
unless they were sent back to Tarrant County to subdue the Indians. Magruder foolishly
sent 5 companies of Griffin's Bn. back to Fort Worth, and only Lt. Chasteen's Co. F was
still in Beaumont awaiting a train. And when the sound of cannon fire at daylight on Sept.
8 was heard from the direction of Sabine Pass, Lt. Chasteen put his company aboard the
steamer Roebuck and started for Sabine Pass.

By Sept. 7, Gen. Ben Butler's armada had arrived offshore from Sabine,
and the steering lights of the vessels could be seen that night by the Confederates
ashore. Lt. Frederick Crocker, who had successfully captured Sabine Pass a year earlier,
commanded the gunboats Clifton, Sachem, Arizona, and Granite City, and altogether there
were about 5,000 men aboard the 4 gunboats and the 19 troop transports that accompanied
them. On the morning of Sept. 8, Capt. Odlum has gone aboard the gunboat Uncle Ben, after
telling Lt. Dowling that he could spike the guns and retreat if he so chose. Lt. Dowling
remained the only officer in the fort, so he asked Confederate Surgeon George H. Bailey
and Confederate engineer Lt. Nicholas H. Smith each to take charge of a battery of two
guns at the fort, although neither man had had any artillery experience.

At daylight on Sept. 8, the 4 Union gunboats entered the Pass and fired
about 20 shells at the fort without receiving any return fire. Many of the rifled cannons
on the Union gunboats had 9-inch bores and fired 135-pound shells to a distance of 3
miles. Because no return fire was forthcoming, Lt. Crocker became halfway assured that the
fort was deserted. About mid-morning, the Uncle Ben steamed down past the fort. Crocker
fired three more shells, all of which passed overhead of the Uncle Ben. The Uncle Ben then
retreated into Sabine Lake, since its tiny popguns were only 4", 12-pound guns. My
grandfather Block and three of his brothers were gunners on the Uncle Ben.

During most of the day, Lt. Dowling kept all of his men out of sight in
the "bomb proofs" under the fort, although each gun had been primed and loaded,
and a good supply of powder, sewed up in flannel pockets, and cannon balls lay stashed
beside each battery. During that time, only Dowling remained above ground with his spy
glass, or small telescope, and about 2:30 PM, he saw black smoke pour out of the invaders'
smokestacks as the Union gunboats steamed forward toward the fort. Dowling then ordered
each of his men above ground, and the aim of each of the six Confederate guns was
pinpointed on the 1,200-yard markers in the oyster reefs.

For some reason, the Sachem led the advance up the Louisiana channel on
the east side of the oyster reefs, and the Clinton was a little behind in the Texas
channel. The lead gunboats continued to fire at the fort, but Dowling allowed no return
fire as long as the boats were out of range. As soon as the Sachem passed the 1,200-yard
marker, the fire of all six guns were concentrated on the Louisiana channel until a cannon
ball pierced the Sachem's steam drum. Immediately the Sachem was shrouded in a cloud of
steam as many crewmen and soldiers, some of them burned to the bone, jumped overboard, and
the Sachem, a hopeless wreck, soon ran aground on the Louisiana shore.

After that, all Confederate guns were aimed at the Clifton in the Texas
channel, which very soon suffered a similar experience and went aground on the Texas
shore, its steam drum also billowing clouds of steam under pressure. Again many crewmen
and soldiers were cooked to the bone. One Rebel cannon ball went bouncing down the
Clifton's deck and cut off the head of the Clifton's starboard gunner. The gunner's head
was later found floating in the Pass, which resulted in my writing a story entitled
"The Headless Yankee Gunner of Sabine Pass."

As soon as the two gunboats blew up and went aground, the rest of the
Union fleet suddenly became very homesick for New Orleans. In their haste to turn around
and gallop home, the gunboats Arizona and Granite City ran aground and had to be pulled
off the mud flat. The transports Suffolk and Continental collided while fleeing, but
sustained very little damage. To lighten their loads, the feet of 200 horses and mules
were tied together before they were thrown overboard. Altogether, 200,000 rations, 50
wagons, artillery pieces, many kegs of gunpowder, and barrels of corn meal and flour were
thrown overboard during the fleet's mad scramble for New Orleans.

As soon as Lt. Crocker raised a white flag on the Clifton, Lt. Dowling
had another terrible dilemma. He had only 47 Confederates in the fort, who luckily had not
sustained a single scratch, but were worn out from the reloading and firing of 135 cannon
balls during the 40 minute battle, always without the minimal precaution of scrubbing out
the cannon barrels. Two Confederate guns were hit and knocked out during the battle.
Dowling had to run down to the Clifton and accept Lt. Crocker's sword and surrender. But
he dared not expose the fact that there were only 47 men to accept the surrender of 350
prisoners, who might easily have overpowered their captors. Luckily, though, the Uncle Ben
soon steamed back into the Pass and towed the disabled Sachem back to the Texas shore. In
command on the Uncle Ben was Lt. Niles H. Smith, thus meaning that two different men named
Lt. N. H. Smith played a part in the victory. About 4 PM, the steamboat Roebuck arrived
from Beaumont, carrying Lt. Joe Chasteen and the Confederates of Co. F, Griffin's Bn., and
the additional Confederates on hand made it possible to secure the capture of so many
prisoners.

The next day, about 50 or more dead soldiers and sailors, which
included 22 liberated slaves, whose names are unknown, were buried at Mesquite Point on
Sabine Lake. During the battle, the Confederate "heroines of Sabine Pass," Kate
Dorman and Sarah Vosburg, drove a buggy down to the fort and delivered coffee, doughnuts
and a gallon of whiskey to the weary and grimy soldiers.

The Confederates at Sabine Pass had hardly had time to savor and
appreciate their victory, but others quickly did, as the story of the "Alamo in
reverse" battle was carried back to Houston and Galveston, and eventually back to the
Confederate Congress in Richmond, Va., who quickly ordered that a special Davis Guard
medal be cast for each of the men in the fort. The battle had saved Upper Texas from Union
occupation until the end of the war and allowed East Texas to continue shipping cotton
through the blockade and to act as the bread basket for all the Confederates fighting in
Louisiana.

Within a short time, Lt. Dick Dowling was promoted to major in command
of all Houston recruitment. But despite his great victory at Sabine Pass, the outcome of
the great war had to be decided on the fields of Virginia. Each of the Davis Guards could
only watch in horror and disgust as General Lee surrendered all Confederate forces at
Appomattox Court House. But there was still another disaster which soon faced the Davis
Guard soldiers. During the great yellow fever epidemic of 1867, which killed 3,000 people
in Harris and Galveston counties, the beloved Dick Dowling and about half of his Sabine
Pass veterans fell victim to the "yellowjack," after having survived the agonies
of gunpowder and exploding shells at the battle at Sabine Pass.

However, the death of each of those men will never be in vain as long
as there is a Sabine Pass, Texas, to remember them. Its citizens will always cherish the
memories of those 47 valiant men, who stood so bravely in the face of death and against
such astronomical odds to keep East Texas free of a Federal occupation army. I thank you
for your kind attention.